


Wicked Witches

by Nox051



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, F/F, F/M, Hogwarts AU, Hosie, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:07:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 15,022
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29661495
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nox051/pseuds/Nox051
Summary: Hope Mikaelson, a 6th year at Hogwarts, was born in a racist and homophobic pureblood family. All her life she hated muggleborns and muggles. But when Josie Saltzman and her family mysteriously move to Britain and therefore attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, she finds herself thinking in ways she is not supposed to.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson & Penelope Park, Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman, Josie Saltzman & Lizzie Saltzman
Comments: 12
Kudos: 77





	1. Welcome Home

It was the 1st September. Summer ended, and Hope reunited with the place she called her home. The girl just started her 6th year at Hogwarts and was sad it was almost the last. She loved this place; it was out of this world and was the place she felt more home than anywhere else.

Depressing when she thought about it. She felt more at home at school than the place where her family lived, the place she grew up. But it was not the same. Hogwarts was where Hope's friends were. It was where she learned all these fantastic things; it was the place she spent the most time at. Her family home was cold and boring.

The auburn-haired girl lived in a Mansion with her parents and her uncle Elijah. It was not nice. Sometimes other family members visited, and it cheered her up a bit, but the rest of the time it was dull. Hope's parents fought most of the time, because they would rather tear each other apart than to spend one peaceful minute with each other and her mom would have preferred to marry her uncle Elijah, but wasn't allowed to. Then there were her dad's lectures about mudbloods and blood traitors, which he gave his daughter since she was a little kid. She got it. Everything that was not a halfblood with an important, magical family history or a pureblood was not worth her time. She completely agreed with him, but he never stopped lecturing her about how important it was that she would find a man. The accentuation was on 'man', with a high blood status. In Hogwarts, Hope had her peace from all of this. She understood all of his rules a long time ago and honored them.

But, now Hope wasn't home, she sat in the great hall of Hogwarts waiting for the new first years to arrive and the sorting hat to allocate them to their houses. Her friends and her repeatedly had a little guessing game about who gets sorted into which house. It was fun and drowned the boringness of the first day.

"How long do these stupid kids need to come in?" Hope's best friend, Penelope Park, interrupted her way too long thinking. She was a pureblood, and they knew each other since childhood. Her dad and Hopes always had some secret business going on. Probably wiping out every muggleborn that ever existed, which she would be really fond of.

"And they say Slytherins have a lot of self-control." Maya snorted. Her brother next to her had to giggle. The twins couldn't go a day without teasing one of them. Hope and them were friends, although they were just half bloods, but not everyone found their jokes and teasing hilarious. They got on many people's nerves, but couldn't stop it. Hope's father would have cursed them with one of the unforgivable curses by now.

Their dad was a highly regarded pureblood, and they didn't grow up with their muggle mother, for that reason it allowed the Mikaelson heir to be friends with them, but sometimes she just had the urge to call them out for what they were or what their father was, blood traitors. It was a gained characteristic of her. Maya was right, Slytherins had a lot of self-control, at least she had, sometimes, she wouldn't speak for others.

"Who said that?" Penelope questioned.

"People." Maya snapped. It was common for them to go from zero to hundred percent on the intense level, in just a few seconds. Nobody really minded, it was just their thing.

Suddenly something icy touched Hope's shoulder, and she felt a shiver down her spine until she realized it was Sebastian, who just wanted to vacate a seat for himself next to his friends.

"Where are you coming from?" Hope asked him. Sebastian was also a pureblood. His family wasn't really involved in the businesses of the Mikaelsons and Parks, but everybody knew him and his relatives. They had been supporters of Kai Parker and his wife Katherine, dark pureblood wizard, who disappeared about 15 years ago. Nobody knew where he had gone and nobody wanted to. Not even his supporters. Everyone hated him and nobody wanted to talk about what happened. Still, everyone knew his name.

"I must have missed the time we were supposed to leave the train." He said in his charming accent and smiled smugly. Ethan who sat on the opposite side of the table had to smile, too. Boys.

"No way." They made their handshake, which they always made when they had to celebrate something. "On the train?" This was way too much toxic masculinity for her.

"Would somebody tell us what's going on?" Maya asked, curious.

"He fucked the Hawkins girl. Kaleb's sister. She is one year younger than us." The girls all had to roll their eyes. Hope never understood what was so great about telling someone who you had sex with and then celebrating it. It must be a boy thing, she thought. At least she never talked about it with the girls, not that she ever had sex.

The door of the great hall opened and Professor McGonagall stepped in, followed by younger students. But what was that? There were four others, they didn't look eleven years old; they looked more the same age as the friend group. Hope's brain stopped working for a second and so were the rest of her friends'.

"Who are they?" Penelope mumbled. Usually she knew almost everything about the students of this school. She was the gossip queen, but now she was as helpless as the rest of them. There were three girls and a boy. The boy had deep black hair and darker skin. A blonde, tall girl who chatted with him followed. They seemed really close. All of them seemed really close. Behind them were two other girls, one had light brown hair, the others was darker. Her hair had a deep shape of brown and her body moved elegantly. It seemed like she hovered over the ground like a goddess. It looked majestic. Hope's mouth opened slightly and she could almost feel herself drooling.

The group of students stopped in front of the sorting head, but before they were sorted Professor Dumbledore stood up, ready for a brief speech.

"Welcome to another year at Hogwarts students. Before I start with my usual warnings concerning your safety here at school, I would like to introduce you to our new Defence against the dark Arts teacher. Please welcome Professor Salvatore." Everybody applauded, at the Slytherin table it was a little forced. Stefan Salvatore was a known Gryffindor, so the enthusiasm was rather limited. Who knew if he was like Professor Snape and privileged his own house. "As you may have noticed, Professor Snape is no longer with us. He quit. Horace Slughorn, who takes his old position as the head of house Slytherin, will replace him." There was applause again.

"Finally he got replaced." Maya uttered. Professor Snape and Maya didn't get along. Everyone knew that the girl's harsh humour didn't fit the Professor's numb moods. It simply didn't work. "Didn't like him at all." Hope had no opinion about him. Her father said the Professor's mother was a blood traitor, and that was enough for the girl to dislike him. Him preferring Slytherin over every other house just balanced it out.

"I am sure you all have realized that we not only have younger students new at Hogwarts but also some older ones." Dumbledore started again. "They moved from the United States to Britain. Please welcome Ms. Salvatore, Mr. St. John, and the Saltzman twins to Hogwarts." There was some applause, but it quickly faded. Hope looked to her best friend for some answers. She must know some names.

"Well, Salvatore is self explaining. The Professor's daughter who can't live without daddy. Pureblood." Penelope sniggered." I have heard the name St. John before, probably half blood. But I never heard the name Saltzman." Dumbledore finished his speech and the first names were called up.

"Carol Lockwood" McGonagall yelled.

A girl sat down on the stool and the sorting hat was lifted on her head.

"Oh, Mason's sister. I bet she is in Gryffindor, just like her entire family, except for Mason himself." Penelope had to giggle a bit. "Ended up in Hufflepuff, how pathetic." The Lockwoods were a pureblood family and Carol and Mason were Tyler Lockwood's children, a hot-headed millionaire. Hope's dad didn't really like him, because of the natural rivalry between Gryffindor and Slytherin and some drama about a girl. Hope's dad of course was a Slytherin, too.

"GRYFFINDOR" The head yelled. Just like Penelope called it.

* * *

Lorenzo stood in the mass of eleven-year-old students, next to him, Lizzie Saltzman, his best friend. The boy's hands sweat. His dad, a Gryffindor, his mom, a Ravenclaw. So where would he end up? Lo always had been more like his father, he thought, but thinking about him only made him sad now. Maybe he would be nothing of it and be in Hufflepuff or Slytherin. He knew nothing of this; maybe he should have stayed at home with his mom; he thought.

"Hey." Lizzie's soft voice interrupted his panic. "Everything is goin' to be alright, no one will hate you for being in another house than your parents. It doesn't matter, okay?" The blonde always had a way to calm her best friend down, which was surprising, because she did this with no one else, except her sister, who gave him a warm smile.

"Lorenzo St. John." The dark-haired professor called his name fiercely, probably because of his father's adventures in his youth. He wasn't a good teammate to win the house cup with, he lost more points than he earned.

Lorenzo sat down on the rickety stool and felt old leather decorating his head.

"Oh, I see." A deep voice whispered. Was this only in his head or could everyone hear it? No one reacted, so he assumed only he could. The boys' friends just smiled at him, lucky not being the first of them. "You have your own mind, first listening to your instincts, then considering the others' thoughts. You are smart and find the weirdest solutions. Then it must be, RAVENCLAW." Everyone applauded and he let out a breath he didn't know he inhaled. He made it.

Lizzie watched Lo moving to the Ravenclaw table. He took a last glance at her before he sat down and started chatting with a dark-skinned boy. He was okay now.

"Jo." The blonde turned around to her twin, who was talking to Lexi and was currently laughing. "Guess my house, I guess yours."

"Okay." She had a challenging smile on her pouty lips. "Gryffindor." Her best friend made an unbelieving face.

"You sure, Jo?" The girl raised an eyebrow. "Lizzie seems more like Slytherin to me. No offense, but sometimes you are a bitch. Love you anyway."

"I didn't take it as an offense."

"Lizzie Saltzman." Professor McGonagall called. She turned around and made her way to the front.

"What about my house, Liz?" Her sister asked with force in her voice. She didn't like being ignored or left out, especially not by her twin. But she knew it was just to annoy her.

"Oops." Lizzie gave her a smug smile.

"Bet you are in Hufflepuff." She heard Lexi whisper. How wrong she was. The blonde twin sat down on the stool and McGonagall lifted the hat on her head. A whisper appeared in her mind.

"Smart, I see. But that's not important for you at all, is it?" Having a voice in her head that didn't belong to her was a little scary, even though she was prepared for this. The whole summer her parents just talked about the moment she would arrive at Hogwarts. They told her how to act, what to do and what not to do. Their worries made it sound more horrible than it was. "You love your family, which also involves your friends. They are basically family for you. Not afraid to face the unknown, huh? It must be GRYFFINDOR." The hall exploded in applause and she saw her sister giving her friend a knowing smile.

"Why?" Lexi wasn't able to find the right words.

"Told you, didn't I?" Josie smiled self-satisfied. "Maybe you want to reconsider your opinion about me." Josie and Lexi were best friends, but the Salvatore girl couldn't really tell. She would fit in any house perfectly. How did this hat decide, did he flip a coin; she wondered.

"You would be perfect anywhere, doesn't matter which house." The brunette blushed lightly. She didn't like receiving compliments, and that was exactly the reason Lexi gave them to her.

"Alexia Salvatore."

"My turn, you'll be fine, Jose." She winked at her and went to Professor McGonagall, but before she sat down, she looked at her dad. He gave her an assuring smile and thumbs up. Almost her entire family was made of Gryffindors. An exception was her uncle Damon, he was a Slytherin. Lexi finally sat down and the professor placed the sorting hat on her head.

"A Salvatore." He snorted. "Mixed with a Gilbert. You got some great genes, kid, so what are you even doing here? No fear of dying for those you love, believing in justice, a little bold. You definitely are a GRYFFINDOR." The hall cheered, and Lexi looked back to her father, who applauded proudly. Just Josie was left now.

Now Josie was alone, alone between the first years and alone in a hall filled with hundreds of students. But she couldn't help but notice one in particular. An auburn-haired girl, which was seated at the Slytherin table, always looked over to her and couldn't keep her eyes away. The brunette wondered if there was something funny or odd about her. Why should she have a reason to stare holes in her face? She had little time left to think about it, because her name was called up. She sat down on the stool and a foreign voice spoke in her head.

"This is gonna be interesting." The hat whispered in the girl's corner's head. "Really hard. You would be a perfect fit for Hufflepuff, loyal, patient, sweet and a genuine friend, but you are also smart, not to underestimate. I also see a lot of bravery, just coming to Hogwarts, although you are so afraid of it. Afraid of what just might happen, but ready to sacrifice yourself for your family." He paused for a few seconds. Sitting on this stool felt like eternity for her and everyone was looking at Josie, expecting a decision of the hat. But nothing came, not a single word. "There is darkness." He continued. "You want power and force, to defeat the thing you are so afraid of, you think without it you would be lost, you think your only option will be to kill when the time comes. You are very difficult. Slytherin would promise you, what you need, what you want, but Hufflepuff seems to fit your character perfectly. No house wouldn't fit you. But it will be SLYTHERIN." The hall applauded, only the Slytherins were a little quiet. They thought the Saltzman twin was a muggleborn.

Josie knew blood purity was very important for the house with the snake, but she also knew it got less important in the last years. It just seemed oddly quiet. The auburn-haired girl which used to stare at her now had a spiteful glance, and Josie already knew the game Hope was going to play with her. The only thing she didn't know was that Josie could play it, too.

The sorting finally had an end, and all students settled down. A snap of Dumbledore and the dishes on the tables were filled with tasty smelling food. There was roast beef, roast chicken, pork chops, steak, bacon, sausages, boiled and roasted potatoes, chips, pudding, pies and more. The first year's eyes widened. They never saw so much food. When Hope arrived here the first time, she hadn't either. At home the family house-elves made tons of food, but it couldn't be compared to Hogwarts.

Hope's friends and she began eating and talking about the summer. They were in touch through their owls, but couldn't write everything down in just a few letters. Their hand would have fallen off, if they had written everything they did.

Sebastian did nothing in particular, he said, he played around with some girls, while his father snuck off every minute to do something he didn't know about. It was not like he cared. The twins traveled through Europe with their dad. But Hope already knew that, because they had sent her some souvenirs. She really liked one of them. They gave her a quill which didn't need any ink. Penelope spent most of her time at home and visited her best friend for one week. They had a lot of fun, and the Mansion Hope lived in didn't seem so cold anymore. But the frost returned the moment the girl left. Everything was painted in black again.

"And what did you do, Hope? Besides hanging out with Pen." Ethan asked, expecting something out of this world.

"Yeah, what did you do? Did you meet a boy?" His sister added. Why did everyone expect her to meet a guy and directly fall in love with him? Until now, she didn't meet a single person she felt strong romantic feelings for. Maybe she was broken and couldn't feel these kinds of emotions, she thought.

"Well, no." Suddenly the great hall's temperature heightened. It became boiling. "I visited my aunt Freya and her friend Keelin." She stuttered. What was going on with her? It seemed like her confidence was drowned in embarrassment.

"You visited her friend?" Penelope questioned.

"Yeah, they live together. What about it?" Hope explained. Her aunt was one of her favourite persons. She had no demands on her. She was just there, brought her to bed, gave her a hug if she needed one and used to read her books when she was little. For Hope she was perfect, but since she met Keelin she didn't visit as often as she did before. The auburn-haired girl wasn't sure if it was about Freya herself, her parents or her. She just realized that she missed her very much.

"So they are like roommates?" Penelope asked with a joking undertone. Maya had to snigger.

"You could say it like that, I think." Hope's brain was foggy and so were the boys. None of them had an idea what was going on. She felt like she was missing out, like always, when the two made these kinds of jokes. The two dark-haired girls just shared an amused look. "What is it, why are you laughing?"

"It's nothing bad, Hope, I swear." Maya told her. Their gazes even changed. Now, they looked more apologetic or compassionate, Hope couldn't really tell. But some sweet giggles interrupted her confusion. She turned to her right and saw the pretty brunette that was sorted into Slytherin. She was talking to a girl named Jade that shared a dormitory with Penelope, Maya and Hope. The blonde was a halfblood and had some friends outside of house Slytherin. She wasn't very popular beyond her house. The girls sat a few seats away from Hope and her friends, and she could hear parts of their conversation.

"So you are from Mystic Falls in Virginia, you have a twin sister named Elisabeth, but everybody calls her Lizzie. She was sorted into Gryffindor, just like your best friend and your parents are muggles. Is there anything else I have to know? Like, how you got this pretty face." Jade asked in a flirtatious tone. Hope would have liked to puke. The brunette just giggled along. The mudblood.

"Well, my name 'Josie' is just a short form for my actual name." She explained. The girl's name was actually quite beautiful, but it didn't change the fact that she was a mudblood and therefore unworthy of being here in Hope's opinion.

"And what is it short for?" Jade still had that disgusting way of speaking. Hope would have liked to punch her in the face for it.

"I'd rather not tell you." Josie said. Was her name so horrible? "What about you?" The pureblood-witch turned her attention back to her friends. She didn't want to know what Jade's life was like. Bad enough that she had to share a room with her.

"Guys." Hope's voice barely overcame a whisper, but her friends immediately stopped their conversation and started listening to her. "You won't believe what I just heard. Turns out the unknown girl's name is Josie and she is a mudblood." To her surprise, her friends visibly gasped.

"It wouldn't surprise me, if Salazar just turned in his grave. Was there ever a mudblood in Slytherin?" Sebastian drew his right hand through his hair.

"Probably." Ethan sighted "It's not like they exist since yesterday."

"Are you sure, Hope?" Penelope asked "She looks way too pretty to be one of them." As soon as the words left Pen's mouth, Maya slapped her. "Sorry." The girl murmured with a pouting face. She wasn't sorry at all.

"I am 100 percent sure." But their little argument was interrupted by the headmaster. He told them the feast was over and the perfects were supposed to bring everyone with no harm to their common room.

Since 5th year Hope has been a perfect. She was not sure why she was one, probably to impress her father. It was not like she was good at comforting or taking care of people. It didn't occur to her why she was chosen as a perfect. Hope was pretty much useless at the job. But her parents liked she wanted more responsibility and the week they found out, they didn't even fight. So a double bonus to her misery.

As she led the crowd of students down into the dungeons, she could overhear Josie and Jade talking and giggling. The sound made her uneasy, and her friends recognized that while they walked next to her.

"You okay, Hope?" Maya asked, reaching out for her arm to comfort her.

"Yeah, I just want this mudblood to fucking shut up." Maya flinched at the spoken words, and Hope really wanted to know why. Something seemed to make her uncomfortable. But before she could ask, Sebastian spoke.

"Don't worry, Hope." He said. "We will deal with her." The boy slung his arm around her shoulder and she could feel his breath on her neck when he whispered. "I Promise." She turned her head to look at the girl, only to recognize both of them had shut up. They must have heard her. 'Good' Hope thought 'They knew who was in charge.'.

The rest of the way was really boring and when they entered the greenish illuminated common room the older students separated from them, except for Jade and Josie. The blond girl seemed to be leashed to the brunette. Hope's friends sat down on the leather sofas next to the fireplace. The moon light just came through the water of the lake and the glass dome and created a mystical aura.

Hope concentrated on the new students again, while a list of the dorm division of the first years appeared in the air, so she could catch it with simplicity. "Your luggage is already in your dorms. Here is the list in which dorm you belong. Just look it up yourself." She waved with it, so everyone could see what she meant. "Just one question. Mudblood!" Hope called and stared deep into Josie's chocolate brown orbs, which almost seemed jet-black in the dungeon's darkness, so she knew at any rate Hope meant her.

"Yes?" She sighed. Honestly, Hope had expected at least some reaction. Maybe a flinch or a hurt face. She didn't even look angry or made a grimace. And somehow it made the auburn-haired girl angry that she had no effect on her, that she didn't even raise an eyebrow or looked with hatred at her. Her facial expression showed no sign of any emotions, and it made Hope despite her even more.

"What is your name?" Hope asked and her friends sensed her mood change and turned around to watch her, failing at bullying. This day couldn't get any worse.

"Josie." She answered.

"Full name." If she didn't want to show any reaction, Hope had to make her. By getting on her nerves. Most people lost their patience with her.

"Josie Saltzman." The girls said as slowly as she could. Did she think Hope was stupid? The corners of her mouth moved into a sneer when she saw her reaction of annoyance. Did the mudblood play her? No, of course not. She looked down into the list and searched for her name.

_Josie Saltzman 6th year dormitory no. 13_

Hope was wrong. This day turned out to be one of the worst in her life. The brunette witch was a 6th year, just like her. From now on she lived in dormitory number 13, just like Hope. She had to swallow to get over this piece of information.

"Dormitory number 13." Hope spit out. She felt the heat heightening in her cheeks. This would be one of the worst years ever, although she wanted to enjoy one of her last years at Hogwarts.

"Great." Jade grinned like she won the house cup. "This is my dorm, too. I will show it to you." She dragged the other girl with her deeper into the dungeon, and both their outlines faded into the darkness. Hope turned around with a sigh and got a fright when she realized there were still at least 13 eleven-year-old students standing. None of them dared to look her in the eye and instead faced the old stone ceiling or looked out of a window into the schools' compelling lake.

"I just give one of you the list and you handle it yourself, okay?" The kids nodded eagerly and tore the piece of parchment out of her hand. She walked to the fireplace and let her exhausted limbs fall on one of the large sofas. When the first years left, the friend group could finally speak freely.

"Are we really going to share a room with her?" Penelope asked, while she sat on the couch opposite from Hope. In her bestfriends lap laid Maya's head and Penelope stroked her hair, calming herself down from today's events.

"Yes, we are. If you don't believe me, look at the list I got. 'Josie Saltzman, 6th year, dormitory 13.'" She quoted while she let her head hang from the edge of the couch.

"I believe you. It was just a reality check." The dark-haired girl explained while she watched a pair of colorful fishes through the windows. Hope thought about the piece of parchment again. It said Josie Saltzman and Professor McGonagall called her Josie Saltzman when she was called up for the sorting hat, but when the girl talked to Jade, she said it was only a short form. It was suspicious, and she told her friends about her thoughts.

"Maybe she just has an embarrassing muggle name and therefore her parents gave the school this name." Sebastian tried to find a workable solution.

"Her sister's name is Elizabeth, but she goes by Lizzie. McGonagall called her Elizabeth as well. So why just one of them and not both?" Hope's thoughts flowed out with straightforwardness like she was drunk of fire whisky.

"How much did you hear of what she said?" Ethan asked, giggling at how much detail his friend sucked out of the brief part she heard from the girls' conversation.

"She is from Mystic Falls, Virginia, Lizzie is her twin sister and the other girl that got into Gryffindor is her best friend." She told them everything my ears could capture. "And Jade couldn't stop flirting with her."

"Wow, stalker, I had no idea you knew what flirting is." Penelope grinned at her. Hope just stretched out her middle finger while she was still hanging on the couch like a crazy person. "It's just a name, Hope, don't make yourself crazy about it."

"I don't know, something is odd about her." Hope told them.

"Because she didn't react to the word mudblood?" Maya questioned as she turned her face towards her friend.

"For example. When I call someone a mudblood, I expect them to show some negative reaction towards me, but she just did nothing." 'They didn't have to know Josie made fun of me, although they might have noticed' she thought "And what I am asking myself is why they come to Hogwarts when there are only two years left. Everything seems a little off."

"Why don't we talk about something else?" Ethan suggested. After some minutes of bitter silence, they talked about the newest school rumors and about Quidditch. Penelope had heard that Rafael Whaite was the new Gryffindor Captain and fought about it with one of his best friends, Milton Greasley. Ethan swore to hit them with some extra hard Bludgers and win the whole game. It went on for two more hours until they went to bed.

When the girls entered their dorm, the two others were already sleeping. Josie's bed was placed between Penelopes and Hopes, and when Hope turned to her right, she could directly stare in her face. For a moment she thought about pulling a prank on her while she slept, but she was so exhausted that she couldn't even go back to the common room. So she spent her first night back at Hogwarts and her first night next to a mudblood quiet in bed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> English is not my mother tongue, so I am sorry for grammar and spelling mistakes. You can always improve me if something is terribly wrong.
> 
> Also, this chapter was first written in first person, but I decided against it and changed it to third person. Sorry, if it's a little messy.
> 
> This is my first fic on ao3, so I am still figuring out how all of this works. You can also find this fic on Wattpad if you prefer that platform.
> 
> One last question, which house are you in? I would really like to know. I am Gryffindor, but also a lot of Hufflepuff, so I don't really know, probably more Gryffindor.
> 
> Oh, and maybe some of you got the name references. I hope you did.
> 
> Feedback is appreciated.


	2. A fateful night

When Josie awoke in the early hours of the day to the calming sounds of the lake, her muscles would not move for a quick moment and her breath grew heavy. Water surrounded her and only the thick, thousand-year-old stone walls and a few windows stopped it from dwelling in the dungeon. But instead, soft snores filled the dormitory. She sat straight in her bed and watched the four other girls sleeping, living in their dreams, 

Hadn’t they been here, she would have believed everything was an illusion, the place she dreamed of since she was a little girl, but could never take a step into it. But now the brunette witch was here, and it was reality. She was in Hogwarts.

When Josie looked at the muggle watch her dad gave, she realized it was still early in the morning and she had still time left to leave her bed before meeting with her sister and best friends.

She already missed them, although it was just a few hours. Never had Josie spent a night so far away from them. They were dreaming in the clouds far away from her in the Gryffindor tower, while she was deep down, buried in the dungeons. Back in Mystic Falls, in the Salvatore boarding house, it didn’t even take her five seconds to cross the hall and enter one of their rooms. Not even Enzo’s room was farther away than ten seconds. But now, he was as far away from her as the others, in the Ravenclaw tower, filling his head with knowledge of the books the private library of his common room inhabited, because he couldn't close an eye. He was as alone as Josie.

She needed a distraction from all these self-destructive thoughts, so her eyes scanned the gloomy dorm, but only found a sleeping beauty with auburn-colored hair. Her body was hidden in blankets and pillows, which held her warm, and you could only see her red mane and blue glowing eyes. Hope was only a few meters away from the brunette, and it would have been easy for Josie to curse her with no one knowing. The girl would have deserved it, but Josie wasn’t such a person. She just enjoyed the thought of her suffering body. 

‘The perfect wasn't friendly, at least yesterday’ she thought. She could only imagine how she treated muggleborns all her life. Her surname was ‘Mikaelson’ and that said enough for Josie. Normally she didn’t judge people by their family's mistakes, she knew all too well how much something like this could hurt. But the Mikaelsons were an ancient, notorious pureblood family, who had the reputation of torturing and killing muggles and muggleborns. Most likely Hope was taught to do the same. So Josie didn’t even want to know what happened to the muggleborns here at school. 

Suddenly something moved in one corner and Jade, the girl she talked with last night, rubbed her eyes.

“Oh, you are already awake.” She yawned and stretched her arms in the air, almost pushing a book off her nightstand, while doing it and left her bed. She hurried to Josie and pulled her out of the covers, too. “This day is gonna be awesome. First, we go get breakfast, then we most likely have class and later I am going to show you a bit of the castle.”

“Alright.” Josie said, taking in every piece of information carefully. It was not like she wasn’t thankful for the girls’ help, but she needed time to breathe, a minute of silence where she was just by herself and could let her mind go over everything that happened in the last 24 hours. The brunette didn’t mind company. It was quite the opposite. She loved being surrounded by her friends and family, but at the same time, she could spend days locked up in her room with a few outstanding books and food and talk to no one.

“Then we agree.” Jade said a bit too excited for Josie’s taste. “Let’s get dressed and go.”

And they did. Both of them dressed in their black, green robes with the Slytherin crest over the heart and left the dungeons to enter breakfast in the great hall. The hall was still very silent, and only a few students and teachers could be seen sitting at the tables. Sometimes their eyelids would fall shut or they would almost doze off. 

Since the Slytherin table was nearly empty, the duo could take any seat they wanted and picked the one they used last evening. They talked for at least half an hour, when Lorenzo, Josie’s friend, entered the hall. Well, most of the time Jade talked because Josie was still tired and wasn’t much of a morning person. She preferred midnights where almost no one was awake and she had time to think about everything peacefully. 

Now, she was just glad one of her best friends was here, to save her from the other girl’s way too energetic behavior. It was quite odd that Jade changed to such a garrulous and squeaky person when she was so confident and flirtatious last evening. She almost seemed nervous to Josie, but she couldn’t think of a reason.

“Hey, Jo.” Lo stood in front of her, fiddling with his fingers.

“Hey, Lo, want to sit down?” Josie asked with a now glowing face. She had missed her family.

“I mean, if I am allowed to, this is not my house table.” The otherwise so confident boy seemed very shy. He was not used to this new type of environment.

“‘Course you are.” The dark blonde girl who was already used to Hogwarts answered. Suddenly she seemed like the girl Josie met the night before. “No one cares who is sitting where except for the first and last day. And some Slytherins aren’t welcoming of Hufflepuffs, Gryffindors, and muggleborns, but I am pretty sure you will be fine.” 

“Okay, thanks.” He sat at the opposite side of the table and it created an awkward silence as he sat down.

“So, you know each other for how long?” Jade tried to start a conversation. Josie and Lorenzo were good friends, but they rarely interacted together with wizards they didn’t know. They didn’t want to say something inappropriate. 

“Oh, we've known each other since like ever.” The dark-haired boy explained. “We can’t even remember when we met because we were just a few months old.” 

“Sounds like a lot of time.” Jade told him, while Josie was just quiet. To their luck, Professor Slughorn came up to them with timetables in his hand. “Good morning, Professor.” The girl said politely, maybe a bit too politely.

“Ah, good morning, Miss Tulle. Great to see you. I think I must have your timetable somewhere here.” He looked through the stack of parchment he carried with him and pulled one out.

“Thank you.” Jade smiled as he gave her the timetable.

“Oh, who is that? Miss Saltzman!” He acted like he didn’t see her before. The Professor seemed like he was anywhere else than this school to Josie. He gave her a timetable, too. “I am looking forward to seeing you in class today. It’s not every day that someone joins Hogwarts when they are in 6th year.” When she looked at the piece of parchment, she realized her first class was potions.

“Yeah, I would have preferred to come here sooner, but the circumstances were difficult.” The brunette answered. She tried to be as nice as possible. She didn’t want to upset her head of house on the first day of school. 

“Of course, of course.” The elder man didn’t know what she was talking about, but agreed, anyway. “And who are you?” He looked down to Lo, at whose side of the table he was standing.

“Lorenzo St. John. I am new, too. Like Josie. I am in Ravenclaw.” Lorenzo said.

“Lorenzo St. John, your father wasn’t a Gryffindor, was he?” Professor Slughorn tried to remember.

“He was, and my mother was in Ravenclaw. Maybe you knew her, Bonnie Bennett?” At these words, the Professor’s eyes sparkled, but Lorenzo’s filled with tears he wouldn’t let go off, because he didn’t feel like crying in public.

“Oh, yes. I knew her. A very talented young witch. Powerful and smart, not to underestimate. She was in my Slug-Club for a while.” A small smile crept to his lips. “She and your father were inseparable. Always sneaked through school at night.” The man had a dreamy look on his face as he remembered the old days. Lorenzo's face, however, decorated a brief smile. Hearing about the times where his father was alive and happy with his mother filled his heart with warmth. But the good mood changed abruptly.

“Miss Mikaelson, Miss Park, come here.” The Potions teacher yelled. They just entered the hall with the rest of their little gang and moved toward the other four. Josie wasn’t as cheered up anymore as she was before.

When the group reached the table, Professor Slughorn all gave them their timetables.

“Potions first.” One boy muttered. But Josie wasn’t interested in the thoughts of the brunette boy. She was more interested in why Hope wouldn’t even take a glance at her, even though she loved to stare at her so much yesterday.

“Me, too.” The auburn-haired girl added. ‘Great,’ Josie thought ‘she would not just share a room with the pureblood, she would have her first class with her, too.’

The next half an hour the great hall filled with students of every house and it looked like there was no more place for anyone else. Lo had to leave the Slytherin table after a while because he needed his timetable from Professor Flitwick and wasn't very comfortable with all the Slytherins around him who would give him and Josie death glares. When Lizzie and Lexi entered the hall, they directly went to their house table and gave Josie an apologetic glance.

Josie got it. No one liked the Slytherins and therefore wasn’t mad at her friends to not come over and say hello. Meanwhile, Hope and her friends settled down next to them and when it was time to go to their first class and the great hall emptied itself, she used to stick behind.

Jade and Josie wanted to leave, too. But when they crossed Hope, she suddenly stood up and blocked Josie’s way.

“Go on, I am coming later.” The brunette told her new friend.

“Are you sure? I mean, you don’t even know the way.” Jade pleaded with her eyes.

“I am good. I can help myself.” With no other words of exchange, the girl left toward the dungeons, glancing back almost every five steps. “So, why are you doing this?”

“I just want to know some things.” The girl crossed her arms and raised her eyebrows like she had only innocent intentions.

“And these things are?” The other girl sighed. Josie wanted to go to her potions lesson. She had no time for the girl's questions.

“I get some really weird vibes from you.” Hope started. She didn’t know what she was talking about, it just felt right to her. “Out of nowhere, you and your friends turn up here. You can’t expect everyone to be just fine with it and ask no questions. It’s just weird.” Josie bit her lip, she couldn’t tell what the other girl wanted to say with her words, the only thing she knew was that Hope wanted to be enemies with her. 

“Do you know what is weird?” The brunette walked to the hall exit and Hope followed like there was an invisible string between them. “That you get vibes from me when we never had an actual introduction.”

“Do you want to know my name or what?” Josie shrugged. “You know my name. Everyone knows my name.” They had left the great hall and already entered the dungeons. Hope’s skin formed goosebumps because it suddenly became so cold.

“You can’t expect everyone to know your name just because you are a Mikaelson.” Josie sped up. 

“Aha, so you know my name.” Hope walked now right by her side and gave her a smug glance. Josie’s cheeks turned red, but she didn’t know if it was because of the cold or her embarrassment.

“Jade told me.” The brunette tried to ignore the other girl, but it got harder and harder.

“But you know about my family or you wouldn’t have said that.” The pureblood pointed out. “Wrong way.” She said and pulled Josie by her robe in the other direction. For a moment Hope would have sworn the world froze when she touched her, but the next second Josie talked again.

“You seem to be proud of being part of a family that is known for murder.” Her brown eyes met Hope’s blue, and they came to a stop directly in front of the classroom. 

“Family is always and forever, no matter what reputation they have.” She said wide-eyed with her brows raised and entered the classroom. The brunette followed her and both of them were greeted with curious eyes from the Gryffindors, Slytherins and Professor Slughorn, who suddenly stopped speaking and turned around to face them.

“Miss Mikaelson, Miss Saltzman, a little late, aren’t you?” Josie looked around the room and spotted her sister and best friend giving her again an apologetic face. Jade sat at their table with two other boys and they, too, had an apologetic look on their faces, even though they didn’t know her. Hope’s friends were a little too amused by the situation for Hope’s taste. All four of them were gathered around a table and there was no place for someone else. This was the moment the pureblood regretted sticking around the hall and confronting Josie about some bullshit she didn’t even want to know that desperately.

“I am sorry, Professor.” Josie pushed Hope out of her red storm of rage she just got covered in.

“No, need to apologize, Miss Saltzman, we just began. I appreciate it though.” He gave Hope a stern look. But she wouldn’t apologize, not in a million years. “So… would you like to sit down now? I would like to continue my lesson.” The Professor pointed to an empty table, with only two chairs. A perfect workplace for a duo.

“Both of us?” The auburn-haired girl pointed between Josie and herself. Under no circumstances would she share a table with this girl, not now, not in the future, never.

“Of course, both of you, Miss Mikaelson.” He shooed them into the corner of the classroom, all their classmates' eyes followed them and a few seconds later both of them finally settled down. They had moved their chairs to each end of the table end and tried to avoid every physical contact possible.

The lesson was boring. The old and a little slow-thinking Professor talked almost the whole time about the organization of their parchments and how to clean their cauldrons properly, not that most of them did it the last five years correctly. Hope didn’t listen anyway, she was busy keeping her distance with the brunette twin. Sometimes she would sway her gaze over to her friends, who would give her a smirk in return or wink at her. Otherwise, there was not a lot going on. Some students would fall asleep or whisper with their neighbor, but Professor Slughorn didn’t seem to notice or care.

When the lesson was over, Josie finally exchanged some words with her sister and best friend. They had been sitting with a tall boy and a little smaller boy. Both with darker skin. Judging by their giggling and smiling, they seemed to get along pretty well.

The Slytherin waited at the classroom exit and when Hope and her friends crossed her path; she felt a sharp pain in her side that was caused by one boy.

“Be more careful where you stand Saltzman.” Hope shouted while walking backward. Her eyes mirrored hate. But Josie couldn’t find herself caring about what five idiots thought about her without having a conversation with her once. She knew this kind of people and had experiences with them in the past, she would handle it.

“Hey, Jo.” The girl felt a tap on her shoulder and immediately realised who she was talking to when her voice echoed through the dungeon.

“Lexi!” A warm, friendly hug embraced her. It felt like ages had passed since someone had wrapped their arms around her, but maybe that was just the loneliness of being in Slytherin. “I missed you.” She muttered in her neck.

“I missed you, too.” Only now, she realized that Lizzie, Jade, and the other boys were standing right behind her friend.

“Hey…” She pulled her twin into the hug, too. “I missed you.”

“Josie, we were only a few hours apart.” Lizzie sighed.

“The longest hours of my life.” The three broke the group hug and everyone introduced themselves.

“Hey, I am Josie…” Meeting new people wasn’t Josie’s strength, she liked to just stumble into situations and get to know them. This way she didn’t have to make an enormous effort and exchange unnecessary words.

“I am Rafael. But you can call me Raf.” The tall boy said.

"And I am MG." The boy made an awkward hand gesture. "So you are Lizzie's sister?"

"Yep, that's me." She giggled lightly.

"Okay, let's make this less weird." Jade slipped her arms over MG's and Josie's shoulder and led them out of the dungeon. The others followed close. "We are all going to give you a brief tour."

They reached the entrance hall swiftly and met with three other boys. One of them was Lorenzo. The others were a Ravenclaw boy with dark-colored skin and long hair, named Kaleb, and a Hufflepuff, with curled hair. His name was Landon.

Together, all of them took off and explored a small part of the castle. The group of friends that were already familiar with the school led the way. They showed them the Greenhouse where their Herbology lessons would take place and went even further to the edge of the forbidden forest.

When Josie stood at the edge of the dark tree line with the others by her side, she could already feel the forest breathing and could smell the danger and darkness in its breath. ‘In no way would she ever take a step in this labyrinth of trees’, she thought, and soon after all of them gave it a look of awe they turned around and settled back to the castle. Most of them spent the way in silence, except for Josie and the Hufflepuff boy she just met. They followed the group with a few meters of distance.

“Does anyone ever go in there?” She uttered her thought and looked to Landon, wanting an answer.

“Um, well, not by choice.” Landon answered and scratched his neck.

“What do you mean ‘Not by choice’.” A thousand scenarios ran through the brunette's head. Was there a ghost that forced someone to go into the forest or a hex you could be infected by without knowing?

“Hope and her friends kind of kidnap someone once a year and tie them to a tree in the forbidden forest.” For Landon, this seemed completely sane how casually he told Josie. “It’s an April fool.” He tried to play it down at the sight of the girl’s face, but it didn’t work. Right now Josie regretted every life choice she ever made to come to Hogwarts. Was it worth the risk of maybe getting kidnapped and spending one night or even longer in a murderous forest? She wasn’t sure, but she had the fear she would be the victim of the next April fool. She wasn’t really on good terms with Hope, even though they had just met.

“Since when are they doing this?” Josie wanted to know.

“I think since third grade.” Landon said as if it was nothing.

“Third grade?” Josie breathed out in shock. “Do I have to be scared?”

“They mostly go for first years, so don’t worry. It’s unlikely for them to kidnap older students.” 

“Isn’t anyone stopping them?” Josie wondered while they reached the school again.

“Last year a teacher was guarding the forest, but they still somehow smuggled a first year in.” He sighed, shaking his head. “I just don’t understand why Hope is doing this?”

“Because she is a cruel, racist girl?” She suggested while they entered the entrance hall.

“She has her moments, but she isn’t cruel or racist.” The curly-haired boy demanded, now stopping in the middle of the room, so he blocked everyone’s way.

“What are you? A half blood?” Josie questioned. The boy didn’t seem to notice what the auburn-haired Mikaelson heir was doing to muggleborns. Josie had been here for one day and already experienced and heard enough to conclude Hope was a racist.

“Yes, according to my mom. No idea who my dad is.” Landon stared to the ground with a blush on his cheeks.

“I am sorry.” Josie said, feeling truly sympathetic to him. She couldn’t imagine how hard it must be to not know your true family, and wonder what this one person who is supposed to love you more than anyone else is doing. The thought would kill her.

“Oh, thanks.” It was quiet between them for a few seconds. “So you must be a muggleborn then?”

“Em… yeah.” She stuttered and not a second later Landon was pushed into her.

“Watch where you are going, Kirby.” She heard Hope’s bitter voice, but when she saw Josie her eyes lit up. “Be careful, Saltzman, or you are catching the bird flu. A nasty disease.” And with nothing but causing trouble, she and her gang were gone and Josie waited for a proper reaction from Landon, but he would just stare after her and drool.

“Landon?” She snapped with her fingers to push him out of his trance.

“Hm…” He waved his gaze to Josie.

“Em… do you know where the history of magic classroom is?” Josie asked. She didn’t want to talk about Hope or what just happened, Landon didn’t seem to be the right person to talk to about it. He was biased.

“He does, but I do, too.” Jade spoke up behind her. She must have left the rest of the group. “If I am not wrong, I think we have this class together with Landon.”

“Oh, yeah.” Landon still didn’t seem to be by all his senses. “I am not looking forward to it.”

“What? Why not? History is great.” Josie said.

“Maybe where you lived history was great, but not in Hogwarts.” Jade explained. “Professor Binns is a ghost and I am sure he does not know he is dead and we have been talking about goblin wars since first grade. It is far from great.”

“We haven’t been talking about goblin wars for a long time, Jade.” Landon said while they made their way to the third floor. “Still, it’s boring as hell, but an excellent opportunity to sleep. Professor Binns wouldn’t notice.”

“What were you taught?” Jade asked Josie. “Where did you go, anyway? Ilvermorny? I’ve heard it’s a great school.”

“Um… not exactly. I was taught at home.”

* * *

The next weeks were one of the best in Josie’s entire life. She would wake up, go together with Jade to breakfast and sit at the Gryffindor table with her new friends and family. They were a group of nine.

Rafael was a Gryffindor and Quidditch captain of his house. He was best friends with Landon, which only made sense considering they knew each other since they were little and thought of each other as family. Josie could very much relate to that. She was with over half of her family, not related by blood.

MG, or Milton, what he was originally named was also in the house of the Lion. He and Rafael competed for the title of Quidditch Captain, but in the end, he lost. The boy wasn’t mad about it, maybe a little disappointed, but he was happy for Raf and thought he deserved it. 

Then there was Kaleb, he was in Ravenclaw and helped Lorenzo around after the sorting. He had a kind of dark humor but was a nice guy. And then there were Jade and Landon, who Josie already had bonded with. 

At breakfast and dinner, she would watch Landon staring over to the Slytherin table, where Hope and her friends were seated. Josie didn’t know what to think of it. For her, it seemed like Landon had a crush on the auburn-haired beauty and wouldn’t let go of it so quickly. When Josie followed the Hufflepuff’s gaze, she got a small blink of Hope, who sometimes stared in her direction, but looked away quickly.

Things between Hope and Josie didn’t get better, not that any of them tried to be friends or at least be mild to each other. Every minute Hope spent breathing she would let out a sharp comment about Josie’s blood status, her contributions in class, or even the way she walked. Sometimes Josie would comment back or even start it. They shared mutual hate.

Besides her encounters with Hope and having new friends, Josie, of course, had class. She liked them a lot because now it wasn’t only her, Lizzie, Lexi, and Lorenzo, there were other people and it almost felt like she was a normal kid. At home, she was taught by her parents and the other adults and it was fun, but at Hogwarts, she felt like a normal 16-year-old, apart from the spells, potions, and magical creatures of course, but normal for a wizard.

Josie’s favourite class was Defense Against the Dark Arts. Stefan was the teacher and replaced Professor Snape, who quit for some mysterious reasons no one knew about. But without having one lesson with Professor Snape, she knew Stefan was a better teacher. She was probably biased, but her uncle had fought many battles and knew many spells and creatures others could only dream of. Although Josie was already aware of some spells because her family thought it was necessary to know them in case of an emergency, she still had fun.

* * *

One night, when Josie was already familiar with the castle and could sleepwalk to most of her classes, she snuck out of her bed and dorm. Just dressed in her sleepwear and shoes, she passed the four sleeping girls, left the Slytherin common room, and ran through the dungeon to its exit. What she didn’t know was that she was followed.

When the girl left the school’s basement, she made her way to the grand staircases to get to the top of the astronomy tower. In the dark, she almost feared falling off of one of the moving staircases. She could have used her wand to perform a wand-lighting-charm, but she was sure she would just wake half of the sleeping portraits because of the blinding light. Josie wanted to spare them from this experience and with her lit wand, it would be more likely to get caught.

The brunette finally reached her destination and was immediately hit with the bright light the full moon reflected when she climbed the last steps of the stairs. She sat down on the edge of the tower and let her legs dangle through the tower’s fencing. Up here she had the perfect view over entire Hogwarts, its lake in which the moon reflected, the mountain ranges that were painted in the deep blue of the night or the forbidden forest, which breath she felt even here.

But suddenly someone cleared their throat. Turning around felt for Josie like a slow-motion scene in a movie where a car just exploded and the villain walked away with all the pride they had. The difference was that Josie didn’t feel pride; she felt panic. But when she finally locked eyes with the figure behind her, she stared into the ocean blue eyes of the girl she grew to dislike so much.

“What are you doing here?” Josie barely whispered.

“I followed you.” Hope said softly, like Josie never heard. Maybe it was the fact that it was a few hours after midnight, which made everything automatically more magical, or the fact that Hope could be nice. With no other words, the girl sat down next to Josie and leaned with her back against one column that the roof rested on. She wore her Slytherin robe over her pajamas and shoes Josie had never seen before. For a while, Hope just stared at her and Josie ignored her. She could have had a peaceful night just for herself and her thoughts, but out of all people Hope had to show up. “What are you doing here?” The auburn-haired girl asked, the ice returning to her voice.

“I am thinking.” She admitted. “Why were you following me?” Josie now faced Hope.

“I heard you leaving the dormitory and they do not allow us to do so, so I followed you.” Hope explained, but that did not reason enough for Josie.

“Still explains nothing.” Maybe Josie wanted to provoke Hop a little, and maybe she knew Hope well enough by now that she expected her to explode like a volcano after a few more words.

  
  


“Don’t provoke me, Saltzman. I am a perfect, I can take away house points from you.” The girl raised her eyebrows and moved a little closer.

“You wouldn’t though because you would give your own house a disadvantage and you would never do that.” Josie could only laugh at Hope’s threats. “And honestly, who cares about the house cup? It’s just a way for the teachers to control the younger students.” 

“That’s not true.” Hope got closer and closer to explosion. Her mind was overthinking every time she felt bad for losing house points and realized how stupid it was to even care about something like that. Josie had a triumphing smirk on her lips and Hope didn’t like it.

“Regretting some things now?” Josie asked, smiling like a child who just won an enormous teddy bear at the fair.

“Shut up.” Was the only thing Hope could respond. “You are the one who is breaking the rules, not me.” The brunette wanted to tell her she was out of bed, too, but the other girl could cut her off before she had the chance to talk. “And then you do it in this stupid thing you are wearing.” She waved with her hand. ‘Hope would do anything at this point to insult her ‘ Josie thought.

“It’s a hoodie, a simple hoodie.” Josie said, forgetting that Hope did not know what a hoodie was, wearing only odd-looking robes all her life. Witches and wizards maybe had a lot of great spells and magical devices, but their fashion sense was somewhere stuck in the 18th century.

“Okay.” Hope didn’t want to ask what that meant, she had embarrassed herself already enough. “But why is it so big?” She was still curious.

“Oh.” The brunette breathed out. ‘Seeing Hope with such curious eyes made her almost cute’, she thought, but banned that from her mind only a few seconds later. “It’s oversized.” At the purebloods tilted head, she elaborated further. “Oversized means it’s on purpose this big.”

“Why?” Hope said before she could stop herself. “Why would you wear that?”

“It’s cuddly.” She explained as her hands disappeared in the warming sleeves of her hoodie and she wrapped her arms around herself. They didn’t talk for a while and stared into the endless night sky. Josie could feel Hope’s warmth radiating from her body, she was so close, but the warmth only gave her goosebumps. 

“What are you thinking about?” The perfect muttered, avoiding any eye contact. Her voice was low and sensitive, a sound Josie’s ears would listen to like they were music. She hadn’t expected something that beautiful from a girl like Hope?

“Hm?” The twin wanted to make sure she didn’t hear just the wind.

“You said you were thinking. Earlier. What are you thinking about?” The girl’s cheeks were colored pink like raspberries and Josie couldn’t take her eyes off her.

“Oh, I don’t know. I guess I just wanted to be alone.” To admit that to the girl that searched for any way to offend you was maybe not the best idea Josie had that night, but she couldn’t help it. “Crowds aren’t my thing.”

“I see, an introvert.” Their eyes crossed paths, and it seemed like a net of awkwardness was thrown onto them with no way out. They spent a few more minutes or maybe hours, Josie didn’t know, at the astronomy tower in silence, until the brunette stood up and wanted to leave wordless.

“Where are you going?” The other girl asked, hurrying behind her, almost tripping over her own feet.

“Back.” She answered.

“Wait! I am coming with you.” Together they left the astronomy tower and tried to find their way back in the dark. “Why didn’t you use your wand to create light?” Hope wondered, already reaching for her own wand, but Josie caught her hand before. They shared an unpleasant stare and both let go of each other as quickly as possible. 

“The light will only wake up the portraits and draw more attention to us.” Josie asserted.

“If you say so.” Hope sighed, walking on.

They almost reached the grand staircases when a shrill voice echoed through the hall. Josie winced at the sound and searched for the same reaction from Hope, but she already knew this sound. Seconds later, Peeves the poltergeist flowed with a lot of speed in their direction.

“Ohhh, what do we have here?” His high-pitched voice was like listening to someone who badly played violin and gave someone a headache. “Hope Mikaelson.” The poltergeist giggled. “And someone else. A new friend?”

Hope snorted. “No, she is a mudblood.” She looked to Josie, who still didn’t care, and that was when the resting volcano was activated again. In anger, Hope bit her lip and balled her fingers into fists.

“I wouldn’t worry about that now.” Peeves said. “I heard someone coming and I am sure it will not please you.” Moments later he was gone and Josie and Hope both sped up as they, too, heard someone coming in their direction, but it was too late. The brunette bumped into a strong figure and when she looked up, she met her uncle’s eyes.

“Uncle Stefan.” She breathed out in shock.

“Josie, Hope.” Stefan acknowledged them. “What are you two doing here?” Josie searched for an excuse in the back of her mind, but she couldn’t find one, instead, she found the stern eyes of Professor McGonagall. She had just performed a wand-lighting-charm and enlightened the hall a bit beside the natural light of the moon. Josie almost screamed at the sight of her. In the dark, it was impossible to see anything.

“Well, I was just… I couldn’t sleep and Hope-” If looks could kill, Josie would be a corpse on the icy floor right now. As she turned around for help, she met Hope’s eyes. How dared she use her first name in front of her?

“I was just fulfilling my duties as a perfect.” She explained like she was a child who got caught stealing candy from their parents. McGonagall raised an eyebrow. She couldn’t believe Hope, maybe because of all the bad things she had already done, like kidnapping a child into the forbidden forest.

“Detention. Both of you.” That was the only thing the Professor said. Hope’s mouth gaped open. She couldn’t believe it.

“What were you thinking?” Stefan asked, more worried than fulfilled with anger. “You can’t just wander off in the night. It’s dangerous. Especially for you, Josie. Do I have to remind you what could happen?” Suddenly Hope’s interest peaked at his words. She thought something was odd with Josie and the others, and Stefan only encouraged her theories.

Josie folded her hands together behind her back and stared at the ground. “No.” She was sure her parents would hear about this from her uncle.

“Good.” Her mind already reminded itself what could happen. She didn’t need Stefan or anyone else to remember these moments that were burned into her mind since last summer. Her brain did it without requesting it. “Can I trust you to go back to your common room on your own?” 

“Yeah.” Josie confirmed shyly. Stefan gave her a comforting smile and passed her and Hope together with McGonagall, who still had said nothing else.

They did as they were told and returned to their beds. The entire way none of them uttered a word or even looked at each other. Just when they returned to their dorm, Hope glared at Josie like this was her deathbed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, this is the second chapter. I want Josie and Hope to have a rivalry and not one of them bullying the other. I think that is a little toxic. Just so you know.
> 
> I gave Jade the last name of Valerie (maybe you remember her from tvd) because I think they look a lot alike and Legacies didn't give her a last name. If you have suggestions for the last names of Maya, Ethan and Sebastian feel free to share.
> 
> Thanks for reading :)


	3. Detention with Consequences

The day after Hope and Josie got caught out of bed in the middle of the night, students of the third year and older were allowed to go to Hogsmead. They of course needed their guardian’s permission, but that wouldn’t be a problem for any of them. To the duo’s luck, their detention was settled for the next day and gave them the first-weekend day free to enjoy the last warming rays of sunshine the late summer gave them.

In their two different friend groups, Hope and Josie moved through the village, getting only blinks of each other when their path crossed.

Rafael led his group the way to get the whole Hogsmead experience in his opinion, so Josie and the others wouldn’t miss out. They had started their journey in Zonko’s joke shop, which Josie wasn’t very interested in. MG and Lorenzo on the other hand couldn’t keep their hands to themselves and bought tons of gadgets they would never use again.

Meanwhile, Jade murmured an annoyed “Boys.” in Josie’s ear and rolled her eyes.

Their next stop was Honeydukes, a shop Josie was way more fond of. Mountains of magical sweets inhabited it, and now even she and Lexi found themselves admiring everything they could touch. Back home they had way different sweets and Josie would have crossed light-years to come from Mystic Falls to Honeydukes. Half an hour later Lizzie had problems dragging both of them out of the shop to continue with Rafael’s tour he insisted to give.

The boy showed them many shops they didn’t enter, except for a bookshop, Josie had bought a book about a vampire named Stefano from. Their almost last stop was the Shrieking Shack, an abandoned, haunted house a little further away from the village. According to villagers, sometimes screams could be heard through the boarded-up windows and doors. Josie couldn’t find herself scared of an abandoned house until she heard not even Hogwarts ghost would enter it.

When the evening drew nearer and nearer and the leaves which already turned in a light brown shade were covered in less and less light, the friends made their way to their very last stop, the Three Broomsticks. The Three Broomsticks was owned by a friendly lady named Madam Rosmerta, who greeted them welcoming and showed them a table where the large group of nine could take place. They all settled down and ordered each a glass of butterbeer. For Josie, it almost felt like home, when she was with her family and all gathered together for a game night or a BBQ. ‘Maybe this place could be her new home’, she thought.

“So, Lizzie, did you have a friendly pub like this in Mystic Falls?” MG asked the blonde twin.

“As I said, Mystic Falls was not a place for wizards and I am sure if we had, it would be called a bar.” Lizzie answered honestly, thinking of all the places her dad and uncle Damon would disappear at weekends.

“What about a boyfriend?” The Gryffindor boy bugged her further, and suddenly someone cleared their throat loudly. All attention turned to the other end of the table where Lo was coughing.

“Sorry, the butterbeer.” He pointed to his glass. “I just chocked. Why don’t you continue Lizzie?”

“Yeah, sure…” Lizzie started blushing heavily and soon her cheeks were colored in a deep wine red. “No, I didn’t have a boyfriend.” Lexi who sat next to her let out a small grunt and smirked.

But as soon as the conversation started again, and the boys talked about Quidditch, Josie zoned out and her eyes followed an auburn-haired girl that just entered the pub with a group of four people following her. The brunette felt like a spell bewitched her when she followed every movement the girl made. When all of them sat down she couldn’t help, but keep staring, slide her eyes down Hope’s curves and sink into her skin.

The group ordered butterbeer like every other student in the pub and were quickly granted their wishes. That was the first time blue met brown this evening. Hope was about to thank the server when her gaze waved up and met Josie’s desperate stare. They kept their eyes longing for each other, and everything around them got blurred out when a voice cut through the thin string that was spun across the room.

“Josie?” A male voice tried to get her attention.

“Hm…?” With effort, she forced her eyes away from Hope and gave the seven people that apparently required her for something her attention. The eighth hadn’t been better than Josie and still kept staring towards Hope, who had turned away now, too. “Sorry, did you say something?” She shook her head, moving on to reality again.

“Do you like Quidditch?” Rafael asked slowly raising both his eyebrows.

“Eh… no.” Josie said, “It’s okay to nice to watch, but I don’t enjoy playing it very much.” She sighed, already waiting for the negative reaction.

“Which is a shame, because she is damn good at it.” Her sister saved her from the disappointment of the others.

“You are?” MG got very excited suddenly. “Where did you play?” 

“Well, I never really played in a team, just at home with uncle Jeremy and the others.” She explained. Learning to fly a broom and play Quidditch felt good as long as it was for the purpose of fun, otherwise, it was a way to ruin one of the supposedly best sports in the world.

“Wait, you all play Quidditch?” Rafael seemed pleasantly surprised.

“Well, I wouldn’t say play.” Lexi answered. “It’s more like you watch a bunch of one-year-olds trying to walk.”

“Oh…” The Quidditch Captain forced himself to not look disappointed. Inner, he had hoped he would find the rest of his Quidditch team in his new friends.

“Do you play Quidditch, Landon?” Josie suddenly asked. The boy who used to be absent from the conversation and in his imagination sat at the other end of the pub with an auburn-haired Slytherin girl in his arm snapped out of his trance.

“Sorry. Eh… No, I don’t play Quidditch.” Utterly wrapped up in his thoughts, he hesitantly drank his butterbeer he hadn’t touched once.

Somehow Josie disliked how often and longingly the Hufflepuff boy stared after her roommate. She hated when anyone laid an eye on the girl that wasn’t her. The brunette craved for the thought that only she herself was watching Hope so intensely, even though she knew that wasn’t true. Hope maybe was hated among muggleborns and every other house that didn’t start with an ‘S’, but she was admired, even loved among most of her own house.

These thoughts hit her brain like waves in a tornado, and she wondered where they came from. Josie couldn’t wrap her mind around the reason. ‘It must have been the hate she held for the girl’, she thought, ‘No person who treated other human beings lower than themselves deserved this admiration. It had to be that.’

Without her noticing, the conversation went on, this time with Landon interacting in it, but Josie’s gaze and concentration waved over to the other end of the pub again. She only heard words in the distance and everything else got hidden in fog. Her eyes met the beautiful blue of Hope’s and there was this connection again she couldn’t explain, a bond.

“So who taught you when you were in the US? Your parents?” Josie heard someone asking, but couldn’t figure out who.

“Yes. My dad taught Defense Against the Dark Arts, obviously. As you can tell, he is quite good at it. My mom taught us Transfiguration.” Lexi explained in the distance. Josie’s eyes scanned the features of Hope, and the other girl did the same. It was an odd exchange none of them would ever talk about again, but both of them wanted it, they needed it.

“Was there anyone like you? I mean wizards or witches.” Jade asked. The group was very curious about the past of the four. None of them minded the questions, they just had to be careful what they were saying.

“Just us and the rest of the family.” Lorenzo stated. “We were pretty much alone with the Muggles. The next big city with wizards was New York.”

“Have you ever been to New York? I heard it’s huge and modern.” But Josie wasn’t interested in New York. She was interested in the eyes that were staring right into hers. She couldn’t keep her thoughts away from the girl and how much she despised her.

“We’ve once been in New York, but when you’re looking for incredible wizards and witches, go to New Orleans!” Lizzie began. “You literally feel the magic when you are there. The city is even known for its supernatural stories. Most tourists don’t believe it though and think they are only myths.” The blonde twin rolled her eyes.

“But it’s not only wizards and witches who live there.” Josie’s best friend continued. “People say vampires and werewolves are there, too. I can’t speak for the vampires, but I know the werewolf story is true. Josie and I saw one, didn’t we, Jo? Jo…” Lizzie kicked her sister in the calf and the brunette quickly broke the staring battle between her and Hope or whatever they were doing.

“Yeah, we’ve seen one… I think.” She replied with her eyes downcast.

The conversation went on the same way. The single, now united, friend groups asked each other questions about their lives. This way they found out that MG’s father was a muggle and a priest. When he found out MG’s mother was a witch, he wanted to leave her at first but stayed, because he realized he was going to be a father. He eventually accepted that there was no reason to hate magic and the creatures that lived with it. Rafael’s story was quite the opposite. His mother who was the magical part of his family had left him and his dad alone and only returned recently.

Hours and hours elapsed until they all had drunk at least three butterbeer and had to return to school. The group paid, said goodbye to Madam Rosmerta, leaving only their money behind, and closed the door of the Three Broomsticks behind them. Outside it was already dark, a little chilly, only the moon and a few streetlights enlightened their way back to the castle. 

“What are you guys doing tomorrow?” Kaleb wanted to know. “Has someone time to hang out?”

“Lan and I have homework, sorry bro.” Raf told him and Landon nodded agreeing.

“Someone else?” 

“Yeah, we have time.” Lorenzo answered and searched for the agreement of his family. Until now, they never really let go of each other. Sure, they slept in different parts of the castle, but they tried to spend as much time with each other as possible. It was safest this way. “Jo?” He asked after the girl hadn’t given him a nod of agreement.

“I can’t.” She whispered in a low voice. “I have detention.”

“What did you say?” Lizzie raised her voice and stopped her sister to look her in the eyes. “How did that happen?” Lexi stood next to her, rolling her eyes because of the drama the blonde Saltzman twin made while at least three more people crossed their path.

“I was out after curfew and-.” But half of her confession was cut off.

“You were what?” Lizzie couldn’t believe it. Though Josie was glad her sister cared for her, that was a little too much. She acted like their mother when the twins accidentally did magic in public when they were younger. “You know we are not supposed to be out after curfew.” The girl got quieter with each tone her lips escaped.

“Calm down, Liz.” Lo grabbed her by the shoulder to pull her back softly. “I am sure she had a reason. She wouldn’t be risking it all.” They spoke quietly so none of the others would hear their conversation. “And it’s very unlikely something happens on one walk.” Somehow Josie felt like her sister and her best friend parented her. Lorenzo was the husband who tried to calm down his worried wife and reduced the anger she would feel for Josie. Lexi standing just by the side enjoying the show was the older sister.

“Okay, I guess you are right.” Lizzie said glaring at her sister as she would give her detention herself. It was surprising to see this side of her. Normally, Josie was the parent of the group who took care of everyone and everything. “What do you have to do?”

“I don’t know. We are supposed to meet at McGonagall’s office tomorrow.” The friends continued their way to the castle, now slightly afraid of the blonde twin.

“We?” Lexi asked in a prominent voice, giving Lizzie a hint that there was more to the story. Josie gave her best friend a death glare. She was really like an older sister. Her actual sister instead raised an eyebrow, waiting for an answer.

“I just met Hope on the way and then we met Peeves and then I bumped into Stefan and McGonagall and that is basically the entire story.” Lizzie just sighed and sped up to create a distance between her and Josie.

When they finally reached the school, Josie and Jade immediately headed to the dungeons, and the second they entered the dorm fell into their beds. It was an exhausting but fun day and looking to the time the sun would rise; she was a little disappointed.

* * *

Sunday afternoon Josie made her way as planned to the Transfiguration Professor’s office. On her way, she met Hope, who headed the same way. ‘At least she took detention serious’: Josie thought and gave her a friendly smile, a try of a peaceful approach. But Hope didn’t even bother to look at her and kept her eyes facing the old castle walls.

When the duo reached the office, both of them hesitated to knock. No one wanted to make a wrong move. They just made awkward moves with their hand to signal the other to knock. In the end, McGonagall came out herself and gave both of them a stern look.

“Follow me!” The dark-haired woman ordered in an icy voice. Both of the girls could already tell she was sick of them, so it was no surprise that the Professor passed them on to someone else. In this case, Madam Pince the librarian had the pleasure to watch over them. But she looked even more upset than McGonagall.

When the group entered the library, they saw the woman scribbling notes and enormous towers of books decorating her desk. As they approached her, she rolled her eyes up to give them an annoyed look.

“You will spend your detention with Madam Pince.” McGonagall explained quietly. “I believe she has an agreeable task for you.”

“You may go Minerva.” The still sitting woman said. “I’ll handle it from here.” And with no other words, the Transfiguration Professor left, and the librarian waved her attention, sighing to the Slytherin girls. “So… I have an enjoyable task for you.” She stood up and rounded the desk. “Come with me!” They followed their instructions and made their way into the maze of bookshelves and piles of books that seemed to have no end.

Only now Josie took in the library's endlessness. She hadn’t entered it before because none of her friends wanted to go there and show her around. All they had to share were their nightmare experiences with Madam Pince, who would be mad at them for just breathing a little too loud. But it was beautiful here. Josie did not know how anyone could ever find anything here, but the library was a genuine beauty. It wasn’t like the ones she knew. Here every shelf had a slightly different color tone or shape. Some shelves were overfilled with books and parchments others had a little more space to breathe. It was fascinating, maybe a little lacking in students, but still alive.

“We are here.” The librarian announced as they came to a stop in front of a less full shelf. Most of the books were lying on the table in front of it, ready to go back and join the other books. “I want you to alphabetize them into the shelf again. When you are finished with your part, you get me and I judge if you can go or have to do it again. But first, give me your wands.” Immediately after Madam Pince uttered her wishes, Josie rooted through her robe pocket and searched for her wand. After she found it, she directly handed it to the woman, but Hope did nothing. 

“I am not giving you my wand. It’s the wizard it belongs to property.” She demanded stubbornly as ever crossing her arms. “Why do you want it, anyway?” Hope’s voice got louder.

“It wouldn’t be a punishment if you could use magic, would it? I can give you extra work if you want Miss Mikaelson.” Madam Pince said. The brunette could see Hope battling with herself and eventually giving in because the thought of extra work made her sick. She gave the librarian her wand and faced the ground. “Good and be quieter.” Josie had to giggle. “You, too, Miss Saltzman.” The girl saw Hope smirking out of the corner of her eye.

When the librarian was out of sight and Josie was sure she couldn’t see them either, she started to work, but not the way she was supposed to. Hope had already divided the books into two halves. Maybe Josie’s half was a little bigger, and to the girls’ surprise, the pureblood sorted the books in alphabetical order before putting them on the shelves again. But Josie had a unique method in mind. She placed herself in the middle of the aisle and concentrated on the books, earning a what-are-you-doing-psycho look from Hope. And as soon as she closed her eyes, her book pile started moving, and each piece of art floated through the air to its destined place.

Hope gasped at the sight of the girl doing magic without her wand. “How…?” She couldn’t form her thoughts into words. In her eyes, she was just a mudblood, who had some pureblood friends she considered for some odd reason family, Hope didn’t expect this. While the auburn-haired girl’s mouth still hung open, Josie finished her spell and sat down on a table, making herself comfortable, leaning against one of the seemingly five-meter-high bookshelves. “How did you do that?” Hope could finally ask.

“Magic.” Josie whispered in an are-you-stupid tone. Hope rolled her eyes up.

“Yeah, I saw that.” The girl sighed. “Why are you capable of doing wandless magic? You are a fucking mudblood.”

“When you are insecure about me being more talented than you just say something. Maybe I can help you.” Josie enjoyed their dynamic of poking each other, at least when she had the upper hand. What the brunette wasn’t so fond of was when Hope made fun of her friends, especially her sister. These were moments Hope easily won over her.

“You get weirder every second I get to know you.” She looked through the authors and book titles again.

“What do you mean?” Josie was curious what Hope meant with her being ‘weird’. Annoyed slammed the other girl the book she just opened shut.

“You know what I mean.” She scoffed.

“No, I don’t.” Josie leaned back further into the shelf like she wanted to hide. “Tell me!”

“Okay.” Hope gave in, shuffling from one foot to the other. “First, you call your best friend’s dad uncle-”

“I know him my entire life. You know, a family isn’t always blood-related.” The Mikaelson heir gave her roommate a look of disgust. Her entire life she had learned that nothing was more important than family and that purebloods and muggleborns were from a different species, so how could this fit together? Although she wanted to scream her thoughts out loud, she didn’t. Hope wasn’t in the mood for a long explanation from Josie and she didn’t want to risk more detention from Madam Pince.

“Secondly…” The girl didn’t bother to comment on Josie’s interruption. “Why was he saying it’s dangerous in Hogwarts, especially for you?” The Saltzman twin hesitated for a second.

“Over Worried family. I am sure you know what that feels like.” Even though Josie’s explanation was somehow suspicious, she couldn’t focus on it. No, she didn’t know what that felt like. She didn’t even want to think about it.

“And last, why can someone like you do wandless magic?” Hope repeated the question.

“Like I said, talent.” Josie was more confident again. Hope knew absolutely nothing. That was enough to calm the brunette’s nerves.

“Well, I don’t believe you.” Hope stated with an annoyed grin and dedicated her focus to the work she had still left to do.

“That is annoying, actually it makes you really annoying.” Josie couldn’t stop herself from opening the fire again.

“Then what are you still doing here? Your work is done. Go!” Hope’s voice laid tense in the air and she clearly wanted the other girl to leave, but she wouldn’t and couldn’t.

“Madam Pince said no magic. Wouldn’t it be a little suspicious to leave five minutes after the detection began?” She explained and felt Hope’s annoyance blowing like you felt wind touching your skin. But that wasn’t a little wind, it was a storm.

“Okay, when you won’t go, I will. I have better things to do than detention. And since you are so talented, you easily can do my work, too. No problem, right?” Hope was so loud it wouldn’t have surprised Josei if Madam Pince would come around the corner and give them even more books, but Josie jumped off the table and argued with Hope.

“What would you possibly have to do that is so important you can’t even sort some books?” She questioned. The other girl was already on her way to leave when she turned around again.

“I am sure you didn’t know, but I am the Slytherin Quidditch captain and tomorrow is the first training of the year. I have to select players. I have to be prepared.” She let out a loud sigh. “I am sure you do not know why this is so important. You are a dumb mudblood. You have probably never ridden a broom or saw someone ride a broom, so just leave it, okay? Before you embarrass yourself.” She wanted to turn around again, but Josie was faster. She had done her work, she could leave, Hope couldn’t.

“Sorry Hope, but you have work to do before you can leave.” The brunette told her in an aggressive tone. “Bye.” And these were her last words to the auburn-haired girl this day and with all honesty, she felt anger and would have loved to punch her, but that would only get her in more trouble. She had the perfect plan to take revenge.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Maybe you can guess what Josie's revenge will be.
> 
> Thanks for reading :)


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